Setting the Stage Episode 21 – OnslaughtSix and Aerda

Published by

Isaac

July 19, 2023

OnslaughtSix tells us about his DMing style, his gaming products and his world, Aerda.

Onslaught uses almost exclusively modules for DMing, but not in the traditional way. Instead of running a module or adventure path from start to finish, he takes bits and pieces from different modules to form a complete adventure of his own. We talked about his use of Curse of Strahd in this episode and there are some minor spoilers.

Onslaught is a game designer with a few different projects under his belt at his own company, Tidal Wave Games. The biggest one is See You Space Cowboy (CUSC), a rules light way to play out scenarios similar to the Cowboy Bebop anime. The first module for CUSC, Ceres: The Planet That Never Sleeps, is coming out soon. Onslaught also gave us a small preview of a new game he’s working on called Crawl, which is focused on the quintessential dungeon crawl that we all know and love. More info is available at Tidal Waves Games website.

And of course there’s also the world of Aerda. Long ago the dwarves came to the surface and met the elves. Upset that the elves were not god dwelling on the surface as they suspected, the generation animosity between the two races began. Dwarves build more dwarves from rocks and earth. Elves reproduce by a simple kiss that makes the recipient woman pregnant. Aerda is defined by cycles of gods leaving and returning to the world. Onslaught has had all of his adventures in Aerda take place over a two month period with different campaigns in different regions of the world. He suspects that an apocalypse is brewing for the world, but who knows for sure?

Onslaught uses a hex map for Aerda. A small portion of it can be seen here.

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One response to “Setting the Stage Episode 21 – OnslaughtSix and Aerda”

Applying TTRPG Customer Profiles to the Setting the Stage Podcast – GoCorral

February 20, 2026

[…] the guest has finished or is close to publishing a TTRPG product. 14 – Nathan and Aenea, 21 – OnslaughtSix and Aerda, and pretty much every episode from episode 37 and onwards are all good fits for […]

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

83 – Call of Cthulhu's Garden (Hem and The Sprouting) – Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Hem tells us about their actual play campaign, The Sprouting. Within the world of The Sprouting, Earth's history diverged during the 1800s when an eldritch horror was summoned into our reality. The horror lay in wait for centuries, building up a secret army of plant monsters. In 2020, the plant monsters struck, ruining infrastructure and attacking population centers across the world. One hundred years have passed and our heroes learn that the next stage of the plant apocalypse has begun…We also discussed some of the difficulties and pleasures of actual play podcasts and how the RPG community varies internationally (Hem is in Iceland).If you want to try listening to The Sprouting its available on all major podcast platforms. You can learn more on The Sprouting's website.For other shows produced by Hem check out Blighthouse Studio's website.Hem mentioned The Lucky Die actual play show of theirs several times which used D&D 5e.And the broader network of Fable and Folly has their website too.Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stageon Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.